


Ramble On

by SathTrash



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Dean Sam and Cas have to hunt something at their high school, Dean has ADHD, Everything's the same but they're in high school in 2018, Gen, High School, M/M, Modern AU, Protective Dean Winchester, Tags and characters will update as the fic moves forward, emotionally abusive john winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 17:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16179581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SathTrash/pseuds/SathTrash
Summary: Dean Winchester is bad at school, plain and simple. He makes C's and it's something to celebrate. Concentration is hard, classes are boring, and he's just going to be a hunter anyways, so what's even the point of getting his high school diploma? Dean just doesn't care about school, except to make sure that Sammy is doing okay. But what if a teacher were to reach out and help him? It might just change everything.





	Ramble On

Same shit, different school. Dean and Sam had been to three schools already this year, and were headed to their fourth this morning. Dean was sick of it. Dad had been hunting something across the Midwest since September, and seemed like he just kept missing it by inches, so they’d been hopping around from place to place, motel to motel, school to school. This place was different though. The school was situated in a little suburb just outside of Cincinnati, and John had, by some kind of miracle, found a house to rent instead of a motel to stay in for at least a few months, Dean figured it was because John expected the hunt down here to be longer than the others had been. Something had seemed different when they’d set up shop at the house, Bobby had even joined them for this leg of the hunt, so Dad must have caught a lead somewhere for this place, otherwise he was likely to go in alone.

Dean wasn’t too happy about the new school. School sucked, it was boring and he’d never been much good at it. Sometimes if a teacher was good then English could be cool, he liked to read sometimes, he liked Stephen King a lot, not all of his supernatural creatures were too realistic, but they were good reads, and they kept Dean’s attention for more than five minutes, he’d practically devoured _It_ in one long car trip from Florida to Nevada, they’d been in the car for almost three days, and if Dean hadn’t had that he would have gone nuts sitting in the car for that long not able to drive.

He was also kind of into history, if it was taught right, and the teacher made it interesting enough, otherwise Dean was likely to fall asleep partway through if a teacher was a droner, or if they focused too much on dry dates and not the interesting bits like the war and sex and intrigue. And there’d been a mechanics class at a high school in Detroit he’d gone to the year before when he was a Junior, he’d taken it instead of shop class cause it had seemed more interesting, and over the course of the almost six months they’d spent there between big travelling jobs, Dean and another guy named Jimmy had rebuilt most of the body of a 1960’s Chevy truck Jimmy had bought off his neighbour in that class, and Dean had made some repairs to poor Baby’s taillights, her exhaust, and her windshield, she’d gotten a big crack in it while John had been on a short hunt a few months prior, and Dean had been pissed to see the crack that spider-webbed nearly the whole passenger side of her windshield, Baby may still have technically been John’s car, but she’d been promised to him since he was a kid, and he’d be damned if he let John ruin her before he got her.

That was the one good thing about this new place, and Bobby coming in. They’d decided, Bobby and John that was, that since they’d be doing a lot of driving in probably not the best terrain they’d leave Baby at the rental house with Sam and Dean to use for school and errands, while they’d take Bobby’s old beat up truck out for the job. That was Dean’s silver lining, Baby would stay safe, and he’d be able to drive her around as he needed, which would be awesome.

He didn’t want to go to a new school though, he wanted nothing to do with school, he was almost half-way through his senior year of high school, he’d always been a D student at best, the occasional C or even a B in some courses happened, but they were few and far between. Sammy on the other hand was a whiz kid, he was so smart, and Dean was as proud of his little brother as it was possible to be. Sam got straight A’s at every school they went to, he’d skipped a grade the year before, and now he was pretty much starting as a sophomore at this new high school, they’d missed out on going to school for a couple months while John moved them around a shit tonne and didn’t bother registering them for schools, and Dean couldn’t have been prouder even if he’d done it himself, Sammy was a good kid, and Dean was honestly proud to say he’d done the chief amount of raising him, he could have fucked Sammy up so bad, but he’d turned out pretty alright as it was.

So, first day at a new school, Dean knew Sammy would be fine, and himself? Well, he’d skate by, probably fail a class or two, and finish out the year, maybe at another school, and maybe graduate by the skin of his teeth. Or he might not. Either way, he’d be unlikely to go back to school ever again, except maybe to drop Sam off for class.

But from the sounds of things this place was his last stop. John had rented the house for something like six months, like he and Bobby were waiting for something, and with only five and a half months left of the school year, Dean was confident that this was it for him, this tiny little two floor school in the middle of fucking nowhere Ohio.

He was fine with it, better to be at a small school and maybe stand a chance at graduating, then in one of those big ones where you couldn’t even talk to your seat neighbor, let alone your teacher if you needed anything.  Not that Dean really did much of either of those, Sam was the social one, and he was the academic, it wasn’t for Dean to care if he could talk to a teacher or not, but Sam cared about it, so Dean cared a little bit, for Sam’s sake.

-

Their first day of school dawned dark and cold, it was January 4th, and their new school was just coming back in from Christmas Break. They’d gotten to this new house a few days before Christmas, and, at Bobby’s insistence, they’d gotten it set up for the holiday, and had a good old fashioned Christmas morning, gifts, hot chocolate, and a big breakfast and everything. It was the first real Christmas they’d had since Mom had died, at least as far as Dean could remember, and it’d been nice. Bobby had gotten him and Sam up early, just after six in the morning, and practically pushed them up the stairs to open stockings while he brewed coffee and tried to get John out of bed. That morning had dawned similarly to this, bitingly cold, and pitch black, and Dean and Sam had been woken up at much the same time for school at Bobby’s urging, Dean had been handed a thermos of coffee, and Sam one of hot chocolate to bring along with them to school, and Bobby pointed them towards the kitchen to eat breakfast before he’d disappeared into the house’s little study to start his own work for the day. Sam had eaten toast at Dean’s insistence, and Dean, who felt nauseous when he ate too early in the morning, opted to wait until they got to school to eat, and ushered Sam out to the car just as his watch clicked over to seven am. Their classes didn’t start until quarter to eight, but Sam had wanted to make sure they’d get there early so they could get their schedules and find a parking space.

Dean humored him. Anything to get out of the house before Dad was up, he’d been more frustrating lately, barking at Dean whenever he saw him, as if John’s incapability to find whatever he was hunting was somehow Dean’s fault, Sam, of course, never saw this, John favored him far too much to blow up at Dean right in front of him. But Dean saw the dirty looks, the sharpness of his tone when he talked to Dean in front of Sam or Bobby, he wasn’t stupid he knew that John had some sort of anger for him brewing beneath the surface, Dean always got the brunt of John’s anger, and he’d rather it was him than Sammy, even if he didn’t understand why he got so much of it. But either way, he would always rather be the one dealing with Dad’s anger than to have Sammy deal with it, he was just a kid after all, and he deserved to enjoy being a kid, Dean was already pretty much grown, so it was better this way.

The school was a ten minute drive from the rental house, and it was an old rambling two story brick building, wide and long with small windows and large doors that only seemed to lock from the inside save for a back entrance by the student lot for the janitorial staff. Dean had been down to the school by himself the week before to scope it out, ever-cautious from his father’s parenting Dean was never one to be caught off-guard by a new school, he’d picked the lock on the janitorial entrance, and scoped the place out, checking for quick escape routes, and investigating the doors and windows. The first floor windows opened a little more than half-way, to keep students from breaking in them or jumping out them, Dean assumed, and the second floor windows only opened a few inches, definitely to make sure no one jumped out, and the computer lab and science lab windows were barred, to keep what out, Dean had no idea, but certainly to keep students in.

He’d devised a few quick routes through the school for himself and Sam, if something were to happen to Dad or Bobby and they needed to get outta there fast, not that Dean assumed anything would happen, but he always did this, just in case, to keep Sammy safe, it was easier now that they were in the same school again, but it was for Sam’s safety all the same.

Dean had determined that the best place to park in the student lot was closest to the janitorial entrance, there was a back student entrance three parking spaces away from that door, so it was an easy out either way, and since most of the classes were on the first floor, with a few of the arts and humanities on the second floor, but mostly the second floor held the computer lab, and a few of the teachers’ offices and club rooms. It was a relatively easy school to navigate as far as their track record went, which by Dean’s standards made it an excellent school.

He parked right next to the service entrance, and ushered Sam out of the car, locking the doors behind them, he patted Baby’s hood affectionately as he walked around her to herd Sammy to the doors, he put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and guided him towards the doors. Sam seemed like he was about ready to jump out of his skin between his nerves and excitement to start up classes again, Dean could never pretend to understand Sam’s enthusiasm for school, but he was certainly glad to see Sam happy.

“Front office is straight up the hall from this door” Dean said, his tone nonchalant as he opened the door and gently pushed Sam in in front of himself.

“Dean” Sam said, forming his name into almost a question.

“Sam” Dean replied, his eyebrow raised at his baby brother.

“Have you already been through here?” he asked, not necessarily disapproving, but just on its edge.

“I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be lost on the first day, that’s all Sammy” he said, shrugging slightly “Didn’t want you to be caught off-guard”

“Dean” Sam said, and this time his voice was a little bit disapproving “Dad told you not to do that anymore” he said. Dean had been caught trying to break in at their last school, it wasn’t even to scope things out that time, they’d already been there for a few weeks, Dean had just forgotten something in his locker that he needed, he’d told the principal it was some homework, but really it was his pistol. He’d chucked his backpack in his locker and forgotten it at the end of the day because he’d been distracted by Sam, who’d just aced his first algebra test, and he’d needed to get it back asap or else Dad would have had an aneurysm. Well, he’d had an aneurysm anyway, but because Dean had been caught, not because Dean had left Mom’s pistol in his locker, Dad had never learned about that part, because the principle had escorted Dean through the school to get his bag, and then had escorted him home to tell John exactly what had happened.

“Yeah well, we don’t know what the hell Dad is hunting” Dean said simply “I wanted to make sure nothing had touched this school” he said simply “If you don’t tell him I’ll buy dinner” he said, hoping the small bribe would get Sam off the subject.

“From where?” Sam asked, so easily led off of Dean’s trouble making.

“You can pick” Dean said, sweetening the deal.

“Alright” Sam said, his eyes bright, Sam was a good kid really, but so easily bribable that sometimes Dean wondered if he was always just looking for a reason to forgive his big brother of his sins when they were presented to him.

“Alright Sammy” he said, ruffling Sam’s hair affectionately “Let’s go get our schedules” he placed his hand between Sam’s shoulder blades and gently pushed him forward, towards the office, Sam offered no protest to Dean pushing him forward, it was routine, Dean always pushed Sam ahead of him in a new school, allowing Sammy to take the lead that he wanted but was just a little too nervous in a new place to take, so Dean offered it to him with that gentle push. This was not to say, however, that Dean always let Sam go first, inside the relative safety of the school Sam moving in front of him was one thing, anywhere else in the world, however, Sam moving in front of him could have been the end of all things. Not just because if anything happened to Sam, Dad would absolutely kill Dean, but because Dean would rather die than let anything happen to his baby brother, he’d practically raised Sam himself, and he wanted to make sure that he made it through life in relative safety. Allowing Sam to take the lead at school was simply Dean giving him some of the freedom he knew Sam deserved, but was too scared to let him have anywhere else.

-

Most of the lockers for the seniors were on the second floor, for some reason. The second floor, as Dean had already discovered, was mostly offices, or computer labs, or club rooms, and apparently the senior lockers. Sam’s was all the way down on the first floor, near the main doors. Too far, but at the very least on the same floor as all of his classes. Dean would have a tough time making an escape with his bag all the way upstairs, he may just be better off leaving his backpack in Baby’s trunk, because then at least he’d be able to run out and get it if he needed.

He’d left Sam at his locker, with strict instructions to find him during lunch, both to make sure Sam made it that far into the day, as well as to give him his lunch money, and even stricter instructions to wait by the back door for Dean, not to go out and wait by Baby by himself. These were typical instructions from Dean, if he couldn’t have eyes on Sam all day than he needed to know that Sam was smart about it, and that they had a set meeting time. It was part of the reason that Dean held onto his lunch money, to make sure that Sam came to find him before he could get lunch, just so Dean knew he was doing alright. Of course they both had their phones, and Sam could text him at any time if the need arose, there was a difference between a text from Sam, and seeing him in person and knowing he was alright. Texting was for emergencies only, especially during the school day because they risked getting their phones swiped by a passing teacher, most schools they’d gone to only allowing them before class in the morning, and during their lunch or off periods. However, Dean always kept his on him, and made Sam do the same, he didn’t care that they could get taken away, he, Sam, and Bobby only texted in code. Dad didn’t text him at all, if the need arose he’d call, and leave a message to call him back if Dean was in class, and if he wasn’t and could take the call it’d be a short exchange of information, often time sensitive, usually an order to leave the school with Sam as soon as was humanly possible.

Dean left his bag in his locker, all too aware of the loud thunk his pistol grip made when he set the bag down, it was buried under too many things that anyone would notice, but it left him on edge, leaving his bag, and his gun, in the locker, but while this school didn’t have metal detectors, it did require students to leave their bags in their lockers during class times, which left Dean feeling rather defenceless were something to happen. After a moment’s deliberation, wondering if, perhaps, he could get away with hiding it in the waist band of his jeans, he realized he would likely be asked to take his jacket off at some point, and then it’d be noticeable beneath his t-shirt, so he left it behind and went to his first class.

His first class of the day, somehow by magic, was the school’s only auto mechanics course, they must have seen on his transcript that he’d excelled in it in his previous school, and had decided, when placing him and Sam in classes, that he would do well with theirs, so he made his way down the stairs and out a side door that led into the school’s garage.

There was already a small group of kids taking up residence in the few seats along the wall, waiting for the first bell, and for their teacher to give them the go ahead to continue work on whatever project they were working on. They were pretty typical fair for the auto mechanics courses that Dean had taken before, a couple guys with short or buzzed hair, big shoulders, and calloused hands, the few girls in the class, and there were more than Dean had ever seen in this type of class, wore their hair up in messy buns, if it was long enough to pull back, and had tied patterned handkerchiefs around their hairlines to keep the baby hairs out of their eyes while under the cars. It was cold out in the garage, not as cold as it was outside, but still quite cold, likely on purpose, knowing that the movement and start up and shut down of engines would warm the cold space quickly, but at the moment because of the cold everyone was still in their jackets, or wearing thick fleece sweaters. Seeing that there was already something of a clique in place in this garage, Dean decided not to move in on anyone’s territory and leaned against the wall a few feet from the door to wait for the bell.

Dean loved cars, he always had, it was something that Dad, and then Bobby, had instilled in him growing up, and since Dad had been a mechanic before he was a hunter, Dean considered himself pretty good with cars, he’d rebuilt massive portions of Baby’s body and he’d replaced every single thing beneath her hood at least once, if not more, and she still ran like new, she had turned fifty back in April, and Dean kept her engine purring like she was new off the line, he’d even tricked her trunk out to hide an arsenal underneath the floor, it was usually empty, mostly because John didn’t trust keeping anything hidden in it, the under-floor arsenal could hold a massive amount of guns, ammo and other weaponry.

The problem was that auto mechanics classes could get cliquey in his experience, and it took time to get the kids used to him, if it happened at all, so unless there was another new kid than Dean was likely to be alone much of the term while he was working, which wasn’t the end of the world, but could get somewhat tedious.

Just before the first bell should have gone off another kid entered the garage, with the teacher on his heels, the teacher was big and burly, wearing a plain dark t-shirt, and baggy sweatpants, Dean had a feeling he was also the PE teacher from the way he was dressed. The boy who had come in just ahead of him was tall and dark haired, not as tall as Dean though, but still tall, his cheeks were flushed and he looked a little flustered, likely because he had been running late, and he took up the space near Dean as the teacher went trough the filing cabinet near the back of the room.

The bell rang, the teacher found what he was looking for, and pulled out a clip-board, and started calling roll. From the roll Dean learned that the boy who had come in just before the bell was called Castiel Novak, which he found to be an interesting name, but then when Dean’s own name was called Castiel’s head seemed to cock as if Dean’s name was the weird one. He paid it no mind, and raised a hand when the teacher called his name, the roll didn’t seem very important to Dean, it was just auto-mechanics, no one here cared enough for it to matter, not even the teacher.

The teacher set down his roll after Dean said he was there, and dismissed them to their projects, before approaching Dean.

“You’re new” he said simply, and Dean nodded “Well, most people have paired off for these projects” he said, and Dean nodded again, having already expected this. “The only person without a partner who’s working on something big is Cas” he said, indicating the dark haired boy who had moved off to a far area of the garage, where he was working on a massive old Chevy truck, Dean guessed it was probably from the fifties, and he found it kinda funny that he’d be working on almost the same car he’d already worked on before in one of these classes.

“I’ll work with him” Dean said simply, the teacher nodded.

“He could use the help, that beast has been giving him some trouble since he brought it in.” the teacher said, looking towards the poor kid as he circled the car, trying to figure out where to start for the day. The teacher gave Dean another curt nod and went to sit behind the table at the top of the garage, and Dean made his way over to where Castiel stood, staring down at the jack under the front wheels of the Chevy.

“Need a hand?” Dean asked as he approached. Castiel made no sign of having heard him, and Dean was about to speak again when Castiel turned to him, skewering him with unfathomably blue eyes. He looked Dean over, brow furrowed.

“Sure” he said simply “You know something about cars?”  
“I know more than something” Dean said, sidling up to the old truck, running a hand appreciatively over her bulbous hood “My dad’s a mechanic” he said, not a lie “Taught me everything he knows”

“Well, what needs to be done than?” Castiel asked “I’ve been through most of her and still can’t figure out why she won’t start” he said, sounding frustrated.

“I’ll see what I can do” Dean said “You get in the cab and I’ll mess around under her hood and see if I can find anything” Castiel nodded slightly and moved to hop up into the truck’s cab “Oh, I’m Dean, by the way” he said quickly, Castiel nodded again and offered him a slightly confused smile.

“I know” he said simply, and didn’t give his own name, though Dean already knew it.

Puzzled, Dean moved around and popped the latch on the hood, frowning down at the contents. Everything she needed seemed to be in place.

“Put the key in the ignition and try to start her up” He called to Castiel. Cas nodded and put the key in, she rumbled slightly, and her head lights came on, as if Castiel had left them on last he’d tried to start her, but the engine didn’t turn over. Dean frowned, if the headlights were coming on it wasn’t the battery, and Dean heard the engine try to start up, but fail, so it wasn’t the starter. Dean frowned, and Castiel let the car fall silent for a moment, before he tried to turn her over again, with no reaction but the engine doing its best to start, and not turning over again. Dean waved to Castiel and cut his hand across his neck, telling him to cut the engine. He did, and rolled down his window.

“Ignition’s bad” Dean called to him.

“How do you know?” Castiel called back, confused.

“Engine’s trying to start but it can’t turn over, headlights’ are coming on so it’s not the battery, and like I said, engine’s coming on but not turning over, that’s the ignition” he said simply.

“Oh” said Castiel, his tone annoyed by himself “Of course it is” he mumbled.

“I’m sure it’s a part we can find around the garage, if not my dad might know a guy” Dean said, coming around to the window, leaning against the driver’s door “In the meantime though we could get some work done on her body, this poor rust bucket ain’t going far with this much of her wheel wells eaten up by rust” he said, patting the top of the front driver’s wheel well, which was rusting out slowly but surely.

“Alright” Said Castiel, and Dean moved away from the door, letting him drop out of the truck “Let’s get to it then.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've only recently started (re)watching Supernatural, so this is as accurate as I can make it while only being on season 6, as I move further in the series I will edit and update some aspects of this story as much as I can. But for now, I'm doing my best.  
> No spoilers in the comments please! Even well-intentioned advisory ones, I know I'm far behind, but I'll fix things as I get to them.  
> I hope y'all enjoyed this first chapter, and there will definitely be more to come!


End file.
